Over 100 calls to Ben Needham appeal on Greek TV

Reporter

More than 100 calls have been made to officers investigating Ben Needham’s disappearance following an appeal on Greek television.

South Yorkshire Police officers said they are following up 114 calls following information about Ben being shown on a programme called ‘Light At The End Of The Tunnel’, which is dedicated to missing people.

A team of officers have been in Greece this week as part of investigations into the disappearance of Ben, who was 21 months old when he vanished in 1991 from the Greek island of Kos.

Detective Inspector Jon Cousins said the response to the television appeal on Friday had been ‘fantastic’ and officers would now examine the new leads.

He told ITV: “There has been a great response, not only here in the studio, but I am aware of 114 calls to the telephones we are utilising with the officers who are out here in Greece.

“There has been some information which is of interest and it is something we are going to work on over the next few days and look at.

“The show has done extremely well, it does reach out to the right people and I believe we will get some answers from this.”

DI Cousins said their time in Greece has been ‘extremely busy’, with officers collecting a large amount of new information and chasing up leads they had before leaving the UK.

“We are spending a lot of time trying to reach out to the people who have the information and have the answers - not only for us but for Ben’s family,” he said.

He said the force are continuing to investigate ‘as thoroughly as we can’ a claim that Ben’s name was changed to Andreas and he was with a man called Nicos two years after he vanished.